It was 1944 and time for another live-action animated musical package-film produced by Walt Disney. This one was the 7th animated feature film to come out of the studio. The film stars Donald Duck, his old friend José Carioca from Saludos Amigos, and a very loud pistol-packing rooster named Panchito Pistoles. You may know them better by their performing name: The Three Caballeros!
This Funko Soda figure of Donald Duck features our fowl feathered friend in his character portrayal from that film.
I’ll give you three reasons why this vinyl figure is awesome:
One: It features Donald Duck in one of his most iconic roles for the Disney Studios.
Two: It’s a duck wearing asombrero. Come on… that’s cool!
Three: He’s wearing a fashionable bow tie. When’s the last time you rocked the neckwear?
Now let’s have a look at the Soda Can itself:
I was excited to see this Funko Soda can. I love the ‘Birds of a Feather’! But then I noticed something about the chaser. There are two for this figure, and unfortunately, that’s bad news! Because the chasers appear to be José Carioca and Panchito Pistoles. Which means the only way to get a complete set of three is to keep buying Donald cans until you finally find both chasers. Any ideas on how much money that would cost you?
As is usual with this line of merchandise, each can has one vinyl figure and a Pog-like disc with an image of the character on it.
The can gives a Limited Edition run total of 15,000 but the Pog gives the number as 12,500. This would mean that the main figure has 12,500 units but the other 2,500 are made up of the chasers, likely 1,250 of each.
Caballero Donald is looking good from all sides!
Even from below!
I only have two other Funko Soda figures. One is Kuzco from The Emperor’s New Groove, and the other is none other than Stan Lee himself. Check ’em out!
Loungefly mini backpack have become the must-have fashion accessory for younger and more mature women alike. And my wife is no exception! She now owns three of the Disney/Pixar versions.
In this post we will feature the third addition to my wife’s Loungefly collection, namely, Toby, the lovable if not always obedient blood hound from Disney’s Sherlock Holmes homage from 1986.
Being a Sherlock Holmes fan, and that The Great Mouse Detective is one of my favorite Disney animated movies, I just had to have this bag… for my wife. I love that it has the other characters from the story, such a Olivia, here looking up adoringly at her new best friend.
The front of the bag also has a zippered pouch with a little magnifying glass motif. I also like that he has a license on his collar. Oh, and he has fluffy ears!
Ratigan and Fidget adorn one side of the bag while their arch nemesis Basil of Baker Street and his trusty sidekick Dawson adorn the other. The back is plain but is done in a nice complementary colour.
As always, the straps are adjustable. But for smaller women, it can be that even with the straps adjusted to the shortest length, the bag may sit too low on the back making it feel heavier as it pulls downward.
The inside of the main bag compartment is covered in little magnifying glasses. Because apparently all detectives, although brilliant, have bad eyesight.
These mini backpacks sell for about $65.00 – $90.00 US depending on the style and complexity of the design. Also, the licensed character can inflate the price based on its popularity.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this three-part look at my wife’s Loungefly Mini Backpack collection. Given her new found love of them along with my inability to stop spending money on Disney-related merchandise, I’m sure there will be a Part Four soon enough!
Loungefly Mini Backpacks have become the must-have fashion accessory for younger and more mature women alike. And my wife is no exception! She now owns three of the Disney/Pixar versions.
The second to be added to my wife’s collection was the Eeyore bag below. He has some wonderful features!
Although this is technically the front of the bag it is actually the back of Eeyore. And what a fun back it is! Notice the cute little tail pinned to his bottom? It swivels. And so does his ear. He also has a large zippered pouch that opens up to show lots of little dejected Eeyores!
There are no side pockets in this version. There is a nice picture of Eeyore on the back of the bag along with a familiar saying, but I’ll show that later. The clouds are a nice touch!
As always, the straps are adjustable. But for smaller women, it can be that even with the straps adjusted to the shortest length, the bag may sit too low on the back making it feel heavier as it pulls downward.
The inside has the same display of dejected Eeyores along with a second zippered pouch for smaller items.
And now for the familiar saying:
But Eeyore, how could anyone not notice you? You’re so cute!
Well, thanks for noticin’ our little blog today. And be sure to check back soon for Part Three – Toby coming up next!
Loungefly Mini Backpacks have become the must-have fashion accessory for younger and more mature women alike. And my wife is no exception! She now owns three of the Disney/Pixar versions.
I have to admit, however, that I bought them for her because I secretly wanted them! Well, the secret is out now. Fortunately, my wife is hopelessly hooked on the line so I should have no problem adding other versions to my… er, her collection soon!
This was the first Loungefly that I bought for my wife. It made a great anniversary gift for the Disney Wife who didn’t have everything!
The back is rather plain. We will see with the Eeyore version that sometimes they put a little something extra there. Dug has two side pockets that are open, with no zippers.
As always, the straps are adjustable. But for smaller women, it can be that even with the straps adjusted to the shortest length, the bag may sit too low on the back making it feel heavier as it pulls downward.
It’s always fun and exciting to open a Loungefly Mini Backpack for the first time! The inside always has a themed pattern the relates to the character on the bag. In this case, we have wonderful black and white images of Karl’s house flying with its balloons, lots of clouds and rainbows, all against a clear blue sky.
Not all of these bags have the same features. This particular one has an extra pocket in the front just above Dug’s collar. It is zippered and has the same inside pattern as the main compartment.
It’s well worth checking out the official Loungefly site! There are simply too many versions of bags to share on a site like this one, even if I had the money to buy them all. Which I don’t . But be sure to watch for the next post featuring one of the bags I do have!
Disney, or at least their licensees, like to reuse shapes and themes. These Chef Mickey salt & pepper shakers are a classic example. I call these the ‘castle top’ shakers because of the unique shape, especially around the tops. I may be alone in this! However, I am right about the reuse of shapes, as seen when you check out my previous post featuring the Orange Bird salt & pepper shakers. They are identical apart from the image printed on them.
But today we are featuring Mickey Mouse as he whips up a savory salad:
The Walt Disney Productions trademark dates these shakers to before 1987. The Chef Mickey line of merchandise is still produced today, however.
These are truly salt and pepper shakers! As you can see in the image above, the salt has six holes while the pepper has only four. If you follow the link above to my Orange Bird set, you’ll find I have two salt shakers for that character.
These shakers come with a plastic plug. My Orange Bird shakers were missing them, so I pilfered the ones from these shakers. They are interchangeable. It’s always nice when the original stickers are still affixed.
We’ll conclude with a close up of Chef Mickey just going to town with the spices (likely salt and pepper) on that big bowl of salad.
For even more fun with salt & pepper, check out my pair of shakers depicting Donald Duck’s nephews. But… which two are featured? Huey? Dewey? or Louie? Click the link to find out!
Just a few days ago I did a post on the Disney Store Edition of this merchandise line. But I just had to explore what at least one other of these odd little miniature marvels was all about. And so I bring you today the Mini Brands Brands Edition collectible figures.
Well actually, the tiny plastic wonders that you ‘peel’ out of these balls aren’t really figures. But mini replicas of famous foods and candies from past and present.
These balls have a unique packaging feature. Once you peel off the outer plastic label, there is an inner plastic layer with images of old foods. Now that’s a nice touch!
Let’s have a look at the five items I got with my first Mini Brands brands ball:
This was a fun one to get because I can remember loving these candies, and yes I used the pun, when I was younger. You just never knew what message of affection you were going to get!
I’m not familiar with the brands above, but… I do like Jell-O pudding, so they are a nice addition to my mini food collection! And is it not amazing that you can easily read the writing on the back of these things?!? The pudding has the directions for making it clearly marked. Remember, these are about one inch long!
My wife enjoys The Laughing Cow cheese wheels and buys them quite often. So I was able to show a size comparison between the actual product (above, center) and the mini version.
As with all the versions of this merchandise line, there are different variants to be found. With the Brands line, there are Gold, Glow in the Dark, and Metallic offerings. And of course, most of the ‘products’ you will find are Common.
This version of mini brands has over 100 ‘products’ to collect. And some cool accessories, like the display shelf I got as my fifth ‘prize’:
The stand is four and a half inches tall. It came in pieces so was still contained in just one ‘slice’ of the main ball container.
More details about Zuru and these toys can be found by clicking the link at the beginning of this post. The only problem I have with this line of merchandise is the amount of waste it produces. Each ball has two plastic wrappings, two rubber containment clamps, and five hard plastic wedges, each with a foil seal. Although the plastic is made from 100% recycled material, I still think the gimmick comes at a high price to the environment.
Unfortunately, this entry into my Found Disney series is not one I could ever use myself! I found this Lightning McQueen toddler helmet at Walmart today and just couldn’t resist at least holding it and photographing it:
This may be the only time that a helmet will look like its going faster than the person wearing it! “Speed. I am speed!”
The famous race car even signed it!
Being as this helmet was made for children ages 3-5, I didn’t try to wear it. I made my wife do it instead:
Trust me, it wasn’t only McQueen who was smiling!
Some day I will figure out why people stare at us when we go shopping…
Unfortunately, this entry into my Found Disney series is not one I could ever use myself! I found this Lightning McQueen toddler helmet at Walmart today and just couldn’t resist at least holding it and photographing it:
This may be the only time that a helmet will look like its going faster than the person wearing it! “Speed. I am speed!”
The famous race car even signed it!
Being as this helmet was made for children ages 3-5, I didn’t try to wear it. I made my wife do it instead:
Trust me, it wasn’t only McQueen who was smiling!
Some day I will figure out why people stare at us when we go shopping…
This is what collecting is all about. Nothing is as stimulating for a collector than finding something that adds to an existing item already in their collection! Years ago (2016) I found a book set at a Yard Sale called The Four Wonderful Worlds of Walt Disney published in 1965. As that is my birth year, I just had to have it!
After posting it on this site and reading through them, I put the books on the shelf and basically forgot about them. But they came back to my attention when I found an amazing grouping of provenance for them on a local selling site.
Now I have more information about how this set of books came to be. This post will share my findings with you. But first, be sure to click the link above to my original post.
‘Provenance’ is basically a record of ownership, or documentation, of a work of art or an antique, used as a guide to authenticate the object or to confirm its quality. If there is any question about said object, the provenance can be consulted and considered the final word.
My provenance for this set of books starts with a letter from the President of the Grolier Enterprises company stating their purpose, a brief overview of the contents, and of course, The Pitch.
Next comes a 6-page fold out brochure on high gloss paper. It contains 2 pages telling the story of the book set, how it contains no less than 58 of Walt Disney’s stories, and a bit more about the pricing.
Next is a 2-page spread showing the book set itself. We are told its size, how many pages, how many words, and again, that there are 58 breathtaking stories contained within.
Finally, the brochure has another 2-page spread containing a contents of sorts.
I noticed something different in the Uncle Remus image above, lower right. Br’er Bear has a wife called Mrs. Bear and two children called Kubs and Klibs. I kid you not! It appears in the picture that Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Bear are friendly-like, don’t it? In the story they are, until Br’er Rabbit breaks into Br’er Bears house while he is away with his family and steals his honey and makes a mess. The story ends with Br’er Bear trying to knock Br’er Rabbits head off when he learns what’s been done. Now that’s more like it!
Of course, no mail order pitch would be complete without the mail-in card, now would it? And what would this fine collection of four books in a beautiful cover sleeve cost you back in 1965? You could have it sent to your home for no initial charge or postage for a 10-day free trial. If you didn’t like them, just send them back, postage paid, no questions asked. But if you wanted to keep them, you would send Grolier $5.90 and then three more payments of just $5.00 after that, for a total of $20.90 (this included a 95 cent postage charge).
Was this a good deal? Adjusted for inflation, that $20.90 would be the same as $187.47 today. Would you pay almost $200.00 for four hardcover books? If you check the price of books today, that’s not too far off the norm.
Learning that this set of books was only available through this mail order offer was interesting. And that when this preorder pitch was received by the consumer, the books hadn’t even been printed yet!
FUN FACTS: I noticed that the paperwork lists the book set as The Four Wonderful Worlds of Walt Disney while the books themselves are labeled The Wonderful Worlds of Walt Disney. So somewhere between the pitch and the printing, someone decided to drop the word ‘four’ in the title. Maybe they thought any potential readers could count the amount of books in the set for themselves?
I have many pieces of ephemera in my collection, little scraps of paper that were meant to be used for a specific purpose and then thrown away. But sometimes, these little yellowed gems survive to delight collectors for many more years than ever intended. I’ve tucked these advertising pages into my book set. When they move on to the next collector, they will have the complete story of The Four Wonderful Worlds of Walt Disney!
It’s hard to say who I blame more: Disney, for bringing out new product lines every two minutes, or Me, for buying these product lines every three minutes! I thought I was done with buying into the latest trends, but then along came Mini Brands the Disney Store Edition with its adorable collectible figures and I was hooked all over again!
And what makes these figures more adorable than others? The clue is in the word ‘MINI’:
These reproductions of full-size merchandise lines, complete with packaging, range from one inch up to just under three inches in height.
They come in round packaging that resembles a softball. They are made out of 100% recycled plastic and break open like an orange:
Once opened, each ‘slice’ has a plastic film emblazed with the Zuru 5-Surprise logo. Peel this back and reveal the product within:
My first find was Woody from the Toy Story franchise. He just so happens to be one of my favorite Pixar characters, so this was a win right out of the ball!
Each container comes with a checklist sheet:
There are seven Ultra-Rare figures, of which I now have two after buying only four balls. Most of the figures are considered Common and cover characters and props from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. You can also find some cute display stands, although I don’t know yet how they would fit in a standard ball container. They are called Collector’s Case Exclusive figures.
By now you’ve probably noticed that these are exact replicas of the full-size toys and packaging sitting on toy selves, or on your display shelves, right now! How awesome is that? The level of detail is incredible. If you have a magnifying glass powerful enough, you can even read the microscopic writing on the back of each mini box.
Can you take the figures out of the boxes? Why, yes you can:
Each toy is glued into the package it comes in, so you will have to break this seal to remove it. Doing this might destroy the paper element of the toy. I plan to leave mine as produced. Bullseye was loose when I got him so was perfect for displaying what one of these toys looks like on its own.
Each of the seven Ultra-Rare figures are just copies of the Common figures, but in gold.
Apart from the Disney and Pixar animated classics, there are figures representing the television cartoons of the Disney company. Marvel is also represented:
Note the glue that holds the character to the card in the image, upper right. I also have the Spiderman figure.
And so far I have three Star Wars figures:
Darth Vader is lurking in another ball, biding his time to attack my Alliance of toys!
ZURU Toys is one of the largest toy companies in the world, known for its innovation, creativity and disruption through automation. Whatever that means! Their official website has this to say about the toy lines they offer: “Inspired by kids and imaginative play, ZURU Toys distributes to all major retailers in over 120 countries and has delighted millions of families all over the world with brands such as Bunch O Balloons™, X-Shot™, Rainbocorns™, Robo Alive™, Smashers™, 5 Surprise™ and Pets Alive™ and partnerships with entertainment properties, including Nickelodeon, Disney, Universal Studios and DreamWorks.”
So what do you think of these mini figures? I’m committed to getting quite a few more, although I’m not interested in acquiring a complete collection. There are over 50 figures to collect in each series, and buying five at a time in each ball will add up to mucho $$$ pretty quickly! In Canada, they sell for $12.95 each, per ball. With the four balls I’ve purchased thus far, I have only three doubles. Time to trade!
Not into Disney so much? Zuru also has Toy Mini Brands (featuring vintage and popular games), also Mini Brands (featuring foods and iconic products), and Mini Fashion (featuring accessories).
Disleelandia 